Gold Hill

by Christian, Claudia Hall

  He tossed a clipboard jammed full of scraps of paper across the desk.

  “First task, get this transportation sorted out, because it’s a mess,” Rodney gestured toward a desk along the wall. “You’ll work right there so I can keep an eye on you.”

  Pete nodded. Rodney looked at him.

  “Get to work.”

  “Oh,” Pete said. “Great.”

  Pete picked up the clipboard and scowled.

  “Too much?”

  “No,” Pete smiled. He sat down in the desk along the wall and began sorting paper. He looked up. “Do I have a phone?”

  Laughing, Rodney put a phone on his desk. Pete nodded his thanks and set to work.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Monday mid-day — 11:55 p.m.

  “Hey, where is everyone?” Jeraine asked.

  He held the front door of the penthouse open for the movie’s music director.

  “They’re downstairs,” the young man said. “I wanted to speak to you. Do you have a second?”

  “Sure,” Jeraine said. “I was just getting lunch together. I thought we could eat while we go through what we’ve done so far.”

  The man nodded and followed Jeraine into the penthouse.

  “What’s going on?” Jeraine asked.

  “I want to get a few things straight,” the young man said.

  “Okay,” Jeraine smiled. “You’re making me uncomfortable.”

  “It’s about . . . Well . . . ” the young man blinked a few times, then swallowed hard.

  “Listen, man, just lay it out there,” Jeraine said. “Whatever you have to say won’t be the worst thing I’ve heard, even if it’s about me.”

  “Seth really laid into us then kicked us out of his house Saturday night,” the young man’s eyes bugged out a bit.

  “I’ve seen him on a tear,” Jeraine said. “It’s not pretty.”

  “Pretty? No,” the young man swallowed hard. “He sent us to Aspen to sober up and think about what we want to do with our lives.”

  Jeraine chuckled.

  “This is no joke,” the young man said. “He can block us from ever doing movies again. We already have a couple producers crawling up our asses. Seth is . . . well, Seth. What he says is gospel and if he tells the producers we’re a bunch of drugged out scum? We’ll never work again.”

  “Then why you . . . ”

  “Because you called us ‘vestal virgins’ the first time we worked together,” the young man nodded.

  “I did?”

  “You screwed every woman in the building,” the young man said. “While you were high and you still mixed the music perfectly!”

  “Oh,” Jeraine blushed.

  “We just wanted to . . . ”

  “Be cool?”

  “Not be made fun of. I mean, we’re geeks. We don’t have women hanging on us all the time. They only came because we were going to be working with you. And . . . Anyway, we heard you’d quit, but we thought it was a ploy. I mean, we work in Hollywood where most marriages are fake and . . . well, we didn’t believe it until . . . ”

  The young man cleared his throat.

  “Until what?”

  “We met Tanesha,” the young man shifted uncomfortably. “I’d give everything I had for a woman like that. She’s, I mean, no disrespect, but she’s funny and nice and smart and . . . ”

  Jeraine smiled.

  “How could you possibly screw that up?” the young man asked.

  “I met her when I was two. I didn’t know what I had until . . . I got out in the world, and then . . . ” Jeraine shrugged. “I knew enough to marry her, but not enough to understand how special she is.”

  “You’re going to screw up again?” the young man’s voice raised to indicate he hoped Jeraine might. Jeraine smiled.

  “Not if I can help it,” Jeraine said.

  “I’m supposed to apologize,” the young man said.

  “I think I need to apologize,” Jeraine said. “It sounds like I set all this up.”

  The young man nodded.

  “Is that why the guys are in the car?”

  “We don’t mind getting yelled at, but it’s kind of your fault,” the young man said.

  “It’s totally my fault,” Jeraine said. “I’m an asshole. I mean, I can recover from the addictions and maybe from the brain damage, but the asshole is probably a permanent feature. At least, it is in my father. Is that going to work?”

  “Can we call you on it like Tanesha does?”

  Jeraine squinted at the young man and he swallowed hard.

  “Sure,” Jeraine laughed. “But you can’t have her. No one can. Miss T belongs to the sole property of Miss T. And for as long as she’ll have me, she’s my wife. No fake.”

  The young man gave Jeraine a sly smile and Jeraine laughed. Taking out his phone, the music director called the guys downstairs. When the men came up, Jeraine repeated his apology.

  “Ready to work?” Jeraine asked.

  “Did you say something about lunch?”

  Smiling, Jeraine went to finish getting lunch ready.

  Chapter Two Hundred and Three

  Interruption

  Monday night — 9:25 p.m.

  Tanesha pushed open the door to the penthouse den. The room was sweltering from the computers lined up and stacked along one entire wall of the room. The stale sweat odor of stressed out men made her step back. To keep the sound down, the men wore wireless headphones with microphones on them. Jeraine and the music director were arguing. She stood in the doorway for a few minutes before venturing into the heat. Jeraine looked up at her when she touched his shoulder.

  “I’m going to bed,” Tanesha said.

  Jeraine raised an index finger to the music director and pulled off his headphones. The other men in the room took off their headphones and turned to look at Tanesha. Blushing at their attention, she raised a hand to wave at them.

  “I’m going to bed,” she repeated. “I have an early morning.”

  “Did you get what you needed done?” one of the men asked.

  “We didn’t bug you did we?” the music director asked.

  “No,” Tanesha shook her head. “I was able to get my studies done. Thank you for keeping the . . . wilder elements away. I appreciate it.”

  The music director blushed and Jeraine smiled at her.

  “Let’s ask Miss T,” Jeraine said. “She never lies. She’ll tell us if I’m insane.”

  “You’re insane,” Tanesha smiled.

  He hopped up, kissed her lips, and put his headphones on her head.

  “What do you hear?” Jeraine asked.

  “What?” Tanesha pushed the headphone off one ear. “I couldn’t hear you.”

  “Listen to the sound and tell us what you hear,” the music director’s voice came in her ear.

  Tanesha’s eyes shifted to Jeraine. He gave her an encouraging nod. She put the headphones on both ears, turned down the sound, and listened. Her eyes shifted off to Denver’s night skyline just outside the window. After a few moments, her head nodded to the beat.

  “Sounds good,” Tanesha shrugged and pulled off the headphones.

  “You don’t hear anything other than music?” Jeraine asked.

  “Oh, sure,” Tanesha said. “There’s that scratchy sound I always complain about.”

  “What did you say?” the music director asked in her ear.

  Jeraine put her microphone down and clicked it on.

  “I don’t know how to describe it,” Tanesha said. “It’s in a lot of things now. Like last summer, my friends and I went to see this movie we were excited about . . . um . . . Bonnerville . . . ”

  “Bonnervillle Blues,” one of the other men said. Jeraine nodded to him.

  “Right,” Tanesha smiled. “We ended up calling it Bonerville. This sound went all the way through it. Weird too because the music was good, the story was good, the acting was good, but we hated the movie.”

  “Most women did,” the other man said.
<
br />   “But wasn’t it a chick flick?” Tanesha shrugged. “At least we thought it was. I mean, we worked out babysitters and shifted our work schedules around to get the time to see it together. Sandy had a half off coupon and Jill bought popcorn. Then the movie was . . . irritating. We were really disappointed.”

  “You heard this sound in that movie?” the music director asked.

  “I wouldn’t have said it at the time, but yeah,” Tanesha said. “I hear it a lot now and I don’t like it.”

  Tanesha stared off in the distance for a moment again.

  “Makes me feel bad,” Tanesha said. “Like a bad smell or . . . ”

  She took her phone out of her pocket and called Heather. She explained what was going on and put her on speaker phone. The music came over the speakers.

  “What the hell? Are they making Bonerville 2?” Heather laughed. “Jeez, do we have to go?”

  “Hang on,” Tanesha said. “I’m going to call Jill.”

  She called Jill’s cell phone. Sandy was with Jill.

  “Can you listen to this?” Tanesha asked. “Tell me if you hear something other than the music.”

  “Oh God,” Jill said. “What is that?”

  “It’s like nails on a chalkboard,” Sandy said. “Is that some med school hearing test?”

  “Nah, just something Jeraine’s working on,” Tanesha said.

  “Well tell him to stop,” Jill said. “He’s way off track because that . . . ”

  “Terrible,” Sissy’s voice came from the background. “Yuck.”

  “Absolute yuck,” Heather said.

  “Thank you ladies,” Jeraine said.

  “Ok, I’m off to bed,” Tanesha said.

  “Good luck tomorrow,” Heather and Sandy said.

  “Don’t forget your headphones,” Jill said.

  And they were off the phone.

  “That’s what I mean,” Jeraine said. “I’m going to tuck Miss T in and we’ll figure out what to do.”

  “Good night,” the men waved. Tanesha waved back. She set the headphones down. Jeraine put his arm around her and they left the room.

  “Did I say the right thing?” she asked in a soft conspiratorial voice.

  “You were perfect,” Jeraine said. “And that Bonnerville thing? This is the team that did the sound for it.”

  “What is it?” Tanesha asked. She pulled down her covers and climbed into bed.

  “We don’t know,” Jeraine said. “They can’t hear it. I think only women can hear it.”

  “Why can you hear it?”

  “I’ve always been really careful with my ears,” Jeraine said. “I don’t have the high pitch hearing loss most men have. I’ve never been around motors and I always wear earplugs on stage. Why do you have to remember headphones?”

  “Jill gave me an iPod,” Tanesha said. “She just wants me to use her gift.”

  “I just wish . . . ”

  “Shh,” Tanesha said. “Everything is really good. You did well at therapy and you like your new trainer. I did really well at school. Let’s not fill it up with regrets and sadness.”

  Jeraine kissed her.

  “I don’t know how long . . . ”

  “You have to come to bed at midnight to get enough sleep,” Tanesha said.

  “I’ll be back then,” Jeraine said.

  “Tell them they can sleep here,” Tanesha said. “I cleaned up the guest room. I have everything packed for tomorrow.”

  Jeraine smiled.

  “What?”

  “You’re great,” Jeraine said. “You’ll wake me up when you leave? I want to walk you to the bus.”

  “That would be nice,” Tanesha said.

  He went to the door and turned off the overhead light.

  “Good night,” he said.

  Expecting her response, he waited a moment. She was already asleep. Everything was really good right now. Smiling to himself, he closed the door.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Tuesday early morning — 4:25 a.m.

  Valerie tapped on the door to the loft.

  “Jake,” Valerie whispered through the door.

  She turned the handle and leaned her head into the apartment.

  “Jaaaakkkkkkeeeee,” Valerie whispered.

  “What,” Jacob whipped around to startle her. She gave a surprised squeak and weaved backward on the step. He grabbed her to keep her from falling down the stairs. Once she regained her footing, she swung at him for startling her. He smirked and walked in to the loft’s small kitchen. Valerie followed him.

  “Tea?” he asked.

  Valerie nodded. He poured water into her cup and made himself a cup of instant coffee.

  “Instant? Really?” Valerie asked.

  “We have babies due,” Jacob shrugged. “It’s the best I can do.”

  “How’s Jill?”

  “The same as she was last night,” Jacob said. “What’s up?”

  “Do you hate me Jake or are you just surly?” Valerie asked.

  “I’m trying not to read people’s minds uninvited,” Jacob said.

  “Oh,” Valerie said. “Why?”

  “Because Delphie thinks my psychic ability activates the boys’ psychic ability,” Jacob said. “We reach out to each other in the dark. Or that’s what she says. Katy and I are on strict lock down for the next month or so until the boys are big enough to be born.”

  “Oh.”

  “But people like you wander around expecting me to know what’s on their mind and it’s . . . ” He scowled at her. “Frustrating.”

  “All women expect men to know what’s on their minds, Jake,” Valerie said. “It’s part of being a woman. You’ve just been lucky because you always do know.”

  “Jeez, what does Mike do?”

  “He thinks I’m crazy,” Valerie said.

  Jacob smirked.

  “Very funny,” Valerie said. “Listen, the developer in Brighton called me and told me that the house is gone! He showed up to the site this morning and the house is gone! My house! Disappeared.”

  “The white elephant is gone? Missing?” Jacob asked. “What a shame.”

  “That’s not funny,” Valerie said. “It was an expensive building and the school really needs a new home and . . . ”

  “Oh good you’re home,” Jill said as she waddled out from the bedroom. Jacob turned to hold her and for a moment, his entire world was complete. She kissed him and shifted away. “Hi Val.”

  “Oh,” Valerie said. “You just got home?”

  “Val’s worried because her house is missing,” Jacob said.

  Jill smiled.

  “Where’s my house?” Valerie asked.

  “The new Marlowe School is sitting on trailer trucks on a big lot near the airport,” Jacob said.

  “Oh,” Valerie smiled her big manipulative smile. Jacob smiled back. “Are you going to tell me why?”

  “We’re not sure where the best place to put the new Marlowe school,” Jill said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “The new job will shift a large portion of the company out east for the next three or four years,” Jacob said. “We can buy land out there very inexpensively and build an estate around the school. Or we can stick it in the middle of town surrounded by buildings and restaurants.”

  “An estate?”

  “Like Kent school or Colorado Academy,” Jacob said. “Those schools were built when the property was inexpensive out south. The city grew to surround them. Over time, that will happen around the airport as well.”

  “Well, you’re kind of making that happen,” Valerie said.

  “Right,” Jacob said.

  “Would people bring their kids out there?” Valerie asked.

  “That’s the question,” Jacob said. “We think we might try to keep both facilities. With your donation of the building itself, we probably can. Did you donate the building?”

  “Sure,” Valerie said. “Why don’t I know about this?”

  “You’re on materni
ty leave,” Jacob said.

  “So you’re the head of the Marlowe school for one week and all this happens,” Valerie said.

  “Something like that,” Jacob said.

  “Can the company get big enough to do both – big enough to do the work in town and work out there?” Valerie asked.

  “That’s the big question,” Jacob said. “Mom did it when we worked on the airport. But I don’t know.”

  “Oh. Well, okay,” Valerie got up from her seat at the counter. “Bye.”

  “You should be back in bed,” Jacob said to Jill.

  “Um, Jake,” Valerie said at the doorway.

  Jill and Jacob looked over at her.

  “Thanks for . . . well, you know.” She closed the door and was gone.

  “Any idea what she’s thanking me for?”

  “None,” Jill said.

  “Let’s get back in bed.”

  “You coming?”

  “Mooooommmmmyyyyyy!!” Katy called from her bedroom.

  “I’ll get her,” Jacob said.

  Smiling at him, Jill went back to bed. In a few minutes, Jacob and Katy joined her in for their morning snuggle. It was the best part of the day.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Tuesday morning — 11:55 a.m.

  “Son?”

  Asleep, Jeraine rolled over.

  “Jeraine?”

  He felt a hand shake him and he opened his eyes. A shard of pain flashed through his brain.

  “Hi Dad,” he shaded his eyes with his hand.

  “Son, you doing drugs?” Bumpy asked.

  “I have to take this pill after I go to treatment,” Jeraine said.

  “Hmm,” Bumpy picked up the prescription bottle Jeraine gestured to. “Migraines?”

  “Head pain,” Jeraine said. “Non-narcotic, blah, blah, blah, whatever.”

  He rolled over away from Bumpy’s invasive eyes.

  “I’m early,” Bumpy looked at his watch. “We’re supposed to have lunch.”

  “Right,” Jeraine said. “Can you shut off the light?”

  Jeraine pulled the pillow over his eyes and his aching head. Bumpy flicked off the light.

  “Where are those movie people?” Bumpy asked.